Let's COllaborate on the production that is your life

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Theatre: live! now! in the moment! storytelling! thought provoking! revealing! challenging! scary! eye opening! experiencial! Sounds a lot like coaching.

Exploration, risks, journeys: CONNECTING.

I believe that theatre, while often thought of as make-believe—pretending—can make us examine our selves, our lives more than we do in real life. Audience member or actor: both can be transformative. 

Like being a coach, AND BEING coached.

There are many parallels I’ve discovered between coaching, acting, and even directing, and how so many of them seem to be some of the key elements to being a good coach. 

Permit me, if you will, to share my thoughts about the similarities...

I believe this is why I was drawn to coaching and realized it was a good fit for me.

LINE READINGS

Now some actors will think that a certain line should be said a certain way, or “I should be sad when I say that”. Bad directors will tell them: Be angry here. This is playing a result. This is not a good approach. It takes out the element of discovery, and while it may appear at glance that the character is angry when they say this, exploring points of view and other factors, going deeper—getting to the subtext, to what’s underneath may bring a different result. Characters say things all the time with another meaning behind what is heard on the surface. Based on some belief system, or people or situations in their life, or fears or delusion, or some perspective that is based on some point of view. Don’t we do this too in our lives?

OBJECTIVES

Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of young actors and adults with little experience. One thing I often tell them is always want something when you’re walking out onstage.

An actor must have an objective for the scene or it will be flat.

A client must have something to accomplish for the session.

Some characters will have a super objective; something they ultimately want and need. 

Some clients may have a long-term goal. 

Actors get there through a series of smaller objectives, and of course there are obstacles and conflict along the way: man vs man, man vs God, man vs himself.

Clients will no doubt have obstacles as well.

THE JUDGE

For many of us there are saboteurs are in our head; the inner critic, the judge---the voices that tell you you're not good enough, or will never get there, or are wasting time, or don’t know how to…all that negative stuff. One client of mine mentioned “The Doubter” in one session. I asked him about it a little later and The Doubter had quite a bit to say. He later mentioned “The Parent”. Interestingly The Parent voice was harsh and critical, much like his parents. This was his default. Through exploration he discovered the parental voice could also be nurturing and show concern and understanding for him, his decisions and his struggle. This is certainly not new but in my experience “those voices” are so universal that it may not take all that much effort to channel, identify and deal directly with them. 

For a long time I had a lot of misconceptions about what a life coach is. When I found out more about it I was intrigued, and decided it would be a good fit for me.

I hope you'll consider trying me out.